US engineers make ‘artificial eyes’ to improve vision in robots, self-driving cars It is a new type of “photomemristor” that mimics the human eye, adapting to mixed, changing light from bright to dark in seconds. Penn State researchers have built a human-eye-inspired device to prevent self-driving cars from going blind in changing light conditions. It is a new type of “photomemristor” that mimics the human eye, adapting to mixed, changing light from bright to dark in seconds. “Self-driving cars are exposed to a mixture of light levels in use — imagine the contrast of the dark sky with the bright headlights of other cars when driving at night,” said Larry Cheng, James L. Henderson Jr. Memorial Associate Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics at Penn State. “It can be difficult for an artificial optical system to distinguish details, like the glow of a red light, in these mixed lightning conditions,” the co-corresponding author added. Mimicking the human eye Autonomous vehicles remain surprisingly fragile when encountering high-contrast lighting environments, despite being equipped with advanced cameras and powerful AI. These robotic eyes perform well in stable weather conditions, but are not accustomed to sudden flashes of light, such as oncoming headlights piercing a dark midnight sky. It can trigger catastrophic data glitches that blind the vehicle‘s system. The team of engineers has finally found a workaround. And the secret is copying the wet, organic mechanics of the human eye. Researchers unveiled a tiny hardware component that can adapt from blinding brightness to deep shadow in just seconds. While our eyes require roughly 20 to 30 minutes to fully acclimate to extreme changes in light, this artificial system handles the transition almost instantly. To build it, scientists had to rethink how computers process light. Standard cameras capture an image and send it to